Fish and tomato soup

This recipe is from a Swedish website tasteline.se. The original recipe has saffron in it but I'm not a huge fan of saffron so I skipped that and added some other ingredients as well. I was very happy with the result.

Ingredients
serves 4
2 red onions
3-4 garlic cloves
½ red chili
2 carrots
1 capsicum
4 broccolini stalks
500 ml tomato passata
200 ml stock (I used beef because that's what I had at home)
400 ml water
1 bay leaf
400-500 g fish (I used 200 g salmon and 250 g white fish)
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste

Slice the carrots and cut the capsicum and broccolini into bite-size pieces. Put aside for now.
Chop the onion and finely chop the garlic and chili. Heat up a large pot over medium heat and add some grease (I used ghee). Fry the onion, garlic and chili for a couple of minutes. Add the other veggies together with the passata, stock, water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
Cut the fish into smaller pieces and add this to the soup. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes or until the fish is cooked through. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne.

Chicken and bacon rice bowl

This recipe was very simple and quick for a weekday dinner. I found it on Paleomg.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
4 rashes of bacon, cut into smaller pieces
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
4 chicken thigh fillets, skinless and boneless, chopped to bit-size pieces
3 tomatoes, finely chopped
1 small head of cauliflower, grated
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
avocado and spring onion to serve

Add pieces of bacon to a pot over medium heat and cook until crispy then remove and set aside on paper towel. Leave behind the bacon grease to cook the rest in.
Add garlic cloves, onion and chicken. Sprinkle with a bit of salt. Cook until chicken is almost cooked through. Then add your chopped tomatoes and cauliflower. Mix well. Add a good amount of salt then add chili powder and red pepper flakes. Mix well, place heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 10 minutes. When done simmering, mix in bacon pieces into the rice mixture.
Place in bowl, garnish with a bit of salt and pepper, avocado and spring onions.

Almond macaron

I had a craving for French macarons today but it's not something that we just have at home so I decided to make some myself and I also had a couple of egg whites in the fridge from making mayonnaise the other day that I wanted to do something with. Found this Paleo friendly recipe and gave it a go. I only made the top parts and no filling, but they are yummy to eat just as they are. I'm sure you can make them a bit prettier than mine as well I guess.

Ingredients
makes about 15

300 ml almond flour

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp lemon zest

2 egg whites

60 ml raw honey (I used rice malt syrup)

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 120 degrees Celsius.

Mix cinnamon and lemon zest in a medium bowl.

Add honey and lemon juice and stir vigorously to blend thoroughly.

Beat egg whites and fold in to the mixture.

Add almond flour and mix thoroughly but carefully.

Line an oven tray with baking paper.

Use a teaspoon to scoop small portions of the batter onto the baking paper. 

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes.

Chocolate hazelnut cupcakes

I have found a new love for hazelnuts. They're just so delicious. I found this recipe on a Swedish blog and just had to try them because they sounded really tasty. They absolutely were!

Ingredients
makes 12
10 pitted dates
200 ml hazelnut flour
100 ml shredded coconut
50 ml melted coconut oil
4 tbsp cocoa
½ tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla powder
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Grease a muffin tray with coconut oil.
Mix dates, hazelnut flour and shredded coconut in a food processor. Pour in the melted coconut oil together with cocoa, vanilla powder and honey and mix again. Add the eggs and baking powder and mix until it's a smooth batter. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin trays and put in the oven for about 7 minutes. To get a sticky effect, keep them in the fridge for approximately 45 minutes before serving.

Served with coconut cream and strawberries

Mediterranean warm cauliflower salad

So I got inspiration for today's dinner from a couscous salad recipe but I decided to use cauliflower instead since we don't really eat couscous and I modified it in some other ways as well. I was a bit scared that it wouldn't work because cauliflower has quite a strong flavour but it worked really well and was quite delicious. Not the most protein dense meal but lots of veggies.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
½ cauliflower head
250 g cherry tomatoes
1 zucchini
½ red onion
2 garlic cloves
½ capsicum (I used green but any colour will do)
1 carrot
100 g salami
handful of fresh parsley
big handful of mixed leafy greens (I used spinach and rocket leaves)
bocconcini or mozzarella balls
black olives

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and put them on an oven tray. Drizzle on some olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes.
Grate the cauliflower in a food processor or by hand so it becomes small pieces, sort of rice size. Place in a heatproof dish, cover and put in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes. Grate the carrot.
Cut the zucchini in half moon pieces and the capsicum to cubes. Peel and chop the red onion and garlic. Heat a pan to medium heat and add some butter (or olive oil). Cook the zucchini, capsicum, onion and garlic for a few minutes. Finely chop the parsley, cut the salami to smaller pieces and add this to the pan. Fry for another couple of minutes. Add the cauliflower, grated carrot and the roasted tomatoes. Then add the mixed leafy greens and let it all get warm. Mix together the dressing and add this in.
Either mix in the cheese and olives or serve them on the side.

Paleo butter chicken

We made this recipe for the first time a few weeks ago but I didn't get a chance to put the recipe up that time. We made it again tonight and it was just as tasty as last time. Thanks to myheartbeets.com we've found one of our new favourite dishes. We served this with some Paleo naan.

Ingredients
serves 4
Marinade
approximately 600 g chicken thighs (boneless and skinless), cut into smaller pieces
120 ml coconut cream
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ tsp Garam Masala
¼ tsp coriander powder
¼ tsp cumin powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

Curry
2 tbsp ghee
1 onion, chopped
2,5 cm ginger, minced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 carrot, cut into thick matchsticks
100 g green beans, halved
450 ml tomato passata
200 ml coconut milk, full fat
1 tsp garam masala
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp coriander powder
salt and pepper to taste
fresh coriander for garnish

Place chicken pieces in a bowl and marinate with coconut cream and spices, set aside.
Add ghee to a pan on medium heat. Once ghee melts, add onions and cook until completely dark golden-brown but be careful not to burn them (this will take about 15-20 minutes).
Add ginger and garlic and saute for a few more minutes.
Add spices and let them fry off for a minute. Then add your chicken mixture and briefly stir-fry.
Add passata, carrot and beans, and cover your pan. Let everything simmer for about 12-15 minutes.
Add the coconut milk and let it simmer for another few minutes.
Garnish with coriander and serve with Paleo naan.

Paleo naan bread

Simple and delicious naan bread from myheartbeets.com to serve with your favourite Indian dishes.

Ingredients
makes 2
120 ml almond flour
120 ml tapioca flour
240 ml coconut milk, full fat
salt
ghee, to fry in

Mix all the ingredients together.
Heat a 24 cm nonstick pan over medium heat and grease with some ghee. Pour half the batter in the pan.
Once the batter fluffs up and looks firm/mostly cooked, flip it over to cook the other side; this can take some time so be patient.

Super simple and delicious coconut ice cream

Once again I got this recipe from Paleomg. I wanted to make some ice cream sandwiches with the cookies I made yesterday and I found that recipe. We modified the recipe slightly but they still turned out to be superdelicious and the ice cream by itself is really nice.

Ingredients
1 can full fat coconut milk (about 400 ml)
120 ml maple syrup
120 ml almond butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Place all ingredients for your ice cream in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk until completely mixed together, don't overheat. Then place in the freezer for about 30 minutes or until completely cooled.
Add mixture to your ice cream maker and turn on.
Once ice cream has thickened, eat straight away by itself or if using it for ice cream sandwiches; place it in a container and in the freezer to harden up a bit more before putting it on the cookies.